The invention relates to an open-end rotor spinning apparatus having a spinning rotor which in operation rotates in a rotor casing held under negative pressure. The spinning rotor has a driven shaft that is mounted by means of bearing members for rotation in a casing, the casing being inserted into a mounting on the machine.
In open-end rotor spinning machines, it is necessary for technological reasons to replace the spinning rotors by others of a different size and shape. In apparatus in which the rotor shaft carrying the spinning rotor is mounted indirectly in the wedge gap of supporting rollers, this replacement presents no difficulties because the rotor shaft, together with the spinning rotor, can be drawn out of the supporting roller mounting in the forward direction towards the operator's side of the machine without any problem, and a rotor shaft carrying a different spinning rotor can then be inserted. However, in the case of direct mounting of the rotor shaft, this is not immediately possible. The rolling-contact bearings are usually fastened by pressing them onto the rotor shaft, and the bearings are in turn pressed into the bearing casing, so that the replacement of the rotor is possible only with the aid of tools and the application of considerable force, with the result that damage to the bearing can scarcely be avoided.
An apparatus is now known, in which the spinning rotor, together with the casing holding the bearing members of the rotor shaft, is inserted into a bore in a receptacle wall and is aligned in position and fastened by spring-loaded balls corresponding to cutouts in the casing (German Patent Specification No. 2,517,973). This arrangement permits the replacement of the spinning rotor together with the casing holding the bearing members. It is, however, a disadvantage that during the extraction of the casing out of the bore in the forward direction towards the operator's side and the insertion of a casing with a different spinning rotor, the bearings are subjected to tensile or compressive forces via the rotor shaft. Frequent replacement is therefore detrimental to the life of the bearings.